TDK sets new hard drive density record, paves the way for 6TB HDDs

Solid state drives are continuing to build momentum as a speedy and rugged replacement for traditional spinning drive. TDK’s ongoing research into mechanical hard drives, however, suggests that we shouldn’t give up on the legacy technology just yet. The company recently announced a new milestone that will increase recording density in future drives by 50 percent.

The team at TDK have managed to achieve densities of 1.5TB per square inch by improving the magnetic head and hard disk medium with help from Showa Denko K.K. In layman’s terms, this new advancement will allow a single platter in a 3.5-inch desktop hard drive to achieve 2TB of storage. Add more platters to the mix and you’re now looking at hard drives reach 4TB and even 6TB in capacity.

Perhaps even more interesting is the impact it will have on 2.5-inch notebook drives. TDK says these smaller form factor HDDs will be able to achieve capacities of 1TB. This will allow users that aren’t yet sold on cloud storage to have a larger amount of data on hand at all times without having to lug around an external storage drive.

TDK will be showcasing the new technology at CEATEC this week although volume production isn’t expected to begin until sometime in 2014. At that point, one has to wonder just how far solid state drive technology will have come in terms of price versus capacity. This ratio has been the Achilles heel for SSDs thus far even as drives continue to be more affordable.